THROUGH THE BIBLE - Judges 1..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Brethren, last week, as you may remember, we considered the first portion of Judges chapter 11. And we considered the diplomatic efforts of Jephthah, which were quite brilliant, very clever man.

Not only is he a strong warrior, but he's quite a diplomatic man with some brains. And we considered his diplomatic efforts with the king of Ammon to try to avoid bloodshed, which was imminent. The Ammonites were in the land of Israel, within the borders, and they were ready to fight. But it became very clear as we worked our way through that the king of Ammon had no interest. He didn't care for anything that Jephthah had said.

He wasn't ready to retreat. At that point, he'd already been oppressing the people of Israel. Now, when we talk about the people of Israel in this context, we are talking about the Transjordanian tribes, the tribes that are to the east of the Jordan River. He had oppressed them for coming on 18 years. He had broken their wills.

He had crushed their spirits. He wanted nothing more at this point than to take their land. Israel was ripe for the picking. But Yahweh had other plans. They were undeserving, unworthy of His grace.

We know that. They had given themselves and hoarded their hearts after other gods. And yet Yahweh had compassion upon His people and so He sent Jephthah. He poured out His Spirit upon Jephthah. And Jephthah led the battle against the Ammonites.

And we know that in two short verses in the previous chapter, in verses 32 and 33, we're told that Israel issues a knockout punch against the Ammonite army. The Lord subdues the Ammonites before Israel, we're told. And he does it, led by this man by the name of Jephthah. Now, we know thus far, and as we worked our way through chapter 11, that Jephthah was a man who did indeed believe. I mean, when he was addressing the Ammonite king, he was appealing to his knowledge of Scripture, the Word of God.

He's a man who knew that if victory was going to come, it would have to come at the hand of Yahweh, that he would be an incidental instrument in this. But Yahweh himself is the one who delivers his people, not him. But despite the fact that he was a mighty warrior, despite the fact that he built a reputation as a man of valor, and that's why the elders of Gilead had gone out to bring him in to lead them into battle and then lead them also as a king, as a ruler over them. He knew. That if victory was going to be won, Yahweh would need to be involved.

In fact, in the chapter that we read this evening, chapter 12, verse 3, speaking to his countrymen, the Ephraimites, he says, the Lord gave them into my hand. The them is the Ammonites. So he believed that the Lord could give them, and he also recognized that it's the Lord who did give them into his hands. It's that sort of faith that got Jephthah into Hebrews chapter 11, faith in Yahweh. But that's not the end of the story.

This man was far from perfect, his faith was far from perfect too, because although he sounded like a man who had complete reliance on the Lord God, his actions actually suggested that a little bit more than that reliance is needed. Put your eyes down in verse 30. Chapter 11, verse 30. Speaking to the Lord, he says, If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. Jethro, what were you thinking?

Is that what's running through your mind at this point? Such brilliance in his diplomacy, such wisdom in the way he dealt with the Ammonite king, and yet here he says those words. Speaking to the Ammonite king, it was quite clear his message was, King of Ammon, don't be rash, don't be reckless. You may be making a decision to go into battle against another people and your decision is based or predicated not on fact but on lies. Let me give you some facts to to make your decision clear.

You'll be equipped with knowledge and people who are equipped with knowledge and truth are able to make good decisions. Slow down. Don't be reckless. Don't be rash. And yet, what was he thinking in now making a vow so rash and so reckless?

Beloved, we need to realize making vows is not sinful. It's not forbidden. It's an act from the heart of a person in worship to the Lord. It's not coerced. It's not incumbent upon someone to make it.

But if someone on their own free will, on their own free volition, comes to the Lord and wants to express a heart of thankfulness to the Lord, he's able. He needs to examine his heart to make sure that he's not trying to bribe the Lord. Because after all, whatever you have to give, whatever anyone had to give, whatever Jephthah thought he was giving, the Lord doesn't need that. The Lord has it. He owns everything.

Everything in this world is His. He's claimed that when He spoke to the Ammonite king, did He not? That it's His God, the Lord God, who will judge over them. He's the judge of all the earth. He is the God of all the earth.

He owns the cattle on the thousand hills. God doesn't need what Jephthah has offered or wanted to offer him or what you and I offer him. We cannot enlist the favor of the Lord. We cannot bribe the Lord. We don't know what was going on in Jephthah's heart.

We don't know his motivation. Because then we'd have to speak from seeing within his heart. And I have no authority to do that. But I really hope that the time he spent in Cove among the pagans and the idol worship And you know about idol worship, how they committed to sacrifice to those idols with the mindset that if I give, then I'll earn their favor. The more I give, the more favor they'll bestow upon me.

And I hope that that hadn't sunk into his heart, thinking somehow by giving whatever it is he thought he was giving, that he would bring about the favor of God as though to twist the arm of the Lord. I don't know, but I know this much. Our God cannot be bought. He's a good God. And He's good in all that He does.

And He only means good for those that He loves. And that works out always for the ultimate glory of His great name. Can't be sure of His heart. But having said that, I'll try to give Jephthah the benefit of the doubt I have. Thinking from all angles.

Who did he think was going to walk out of his house first? It's very likely that a human being was going to walk out of his palace first. If you think that there was clean animals worthy of being sacrificed that lived in people's homes, no, they had a different place. What was Jephthah thinking? If it wasn't his daughter, then what other human being that walks out of his home first?

Was he willing to sacrifice to the Lord God? What were you thinking, Jephthah? Believe me, I tried to get into his head to understand, to make sense of what this vow is all about. But all I can think of is this. He's a man that was able to give great advice to the Ammonite king.

He didn't take it. But Jephthah didn't take that advice for himself either. He spoke rashly. He spoke recklessly. This vow is nothing but foolish and reckless.

And it comes with very heavy consequences. So we fast forward and we move to the battle. The battle is won. We saw that this evening. The Lord gave Jephthah, the people of the Ammonites.

He gave them into his hand. And who is it that walks out of his house first? His daughter, his only offspring. He had no other son, no other daughter. This is it.

This is his whole posterity. This girl, we don't know how old she was, but when she walks out of the home and he comes back from battle, it's not as though he'd forgotten about the vow, because upon seeing her, his heart is filled with dread. Can you imagine that moment? filled with dread. In verse 35 of chapter 11, we're told that then he immediately opens his mouth to blame her for the distress.

Did you see that there? You have brought this upon me. She's not to blame, Jephthah. You are. You're the blame.

You're the blame for speaking those words. You're the blame for opening your mouth and speaking rashly. You're the blame for being reckless. He had so much understanding in the historical context of Scripture, but when it came to applying that Scripture, he fell way short. He failed to understand how to apply the Word of God.

Was he not familiar with Leviticus chapter 18 or Leviticus chapter 20 or Deuteronomy chapter 2 that speaks about Yahweh's disposition towards human sacrifice? Let me give you a hint. He hates it. It's an abominable thing before the eyes of the Lord. It's what the heathens practice and what God despises.

Now, beloved, I know there's a lot of contention that surrounds these chapters here in the book of Judges. I know there is. Some would argue that Jephthah was a godly man. And because the Bible doesn't rebuke him, neither should we, because the Spirit of God was on him after all, verse 29, chapter 11. And we're told in Hebrews chapter 11, that wonderful passage, the passage about faith of the Old Testament saints, he's there with the other judges.

It speaks favorably of him. So the logic is his vow must have been righteous, and things just went wrong. Maybe unlucky, I guess. But I'm sorry, I don't see it. Others say in relation to the sacrificing of his daughter, they would say it's not possible for a man who's empowered by the Spirit of God, because the Spirit of God came upon him, and it's after the Spirit of God had come upon him, and before he went into the ward, the task that the Lord had given him to complete with the power of God, it's while the Spirit of God was upon him that he spoke these words.

So they would say that it's impossible to some with the Spirit of God upon him to carry out such an abominable act. So Jephthah didn't sacrifice his daughter, they would say, that he simply committed her to a lifelong life of celibacy, perpetual virginity, that she would not be married. But again, the text, the text doesn't allow for that interpretation. Others might say the vow wasn't to offer a whole burnt offering for whoever came out of the house first, rather it's to offer whoever comes out of the house to a lifelong devotion and service to the Lord Yahweh in the assembly of the Lord. But that can't be it either.

You know, something like what Hannah did with Samuel. No, that can't be the eval because the law is very clear. In Deuteronomy chapter 23, no one born of a forbidden union, Jephthah was the son of what? Of a prostitute, a forbidden union. No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the Lord even to the 10th generation.

Even to the 10th generation. This dismisses not only Jephthah, but his daughter. More importantly, the clear, literal reading of the text won't allow for that interpretation. What happened here is horrifying, but it is what it is. The Spirit of God was upon Jephthah and he empowered him to battle, empowered him to the task that the Lord wanted him to accomplish, but that doesn't mean he was instantly sanctified.

Remember that. This was a foolish rash, reckless vow. And the fulfilling of the vow was wickedness also. That's it. You may say, okay, he kept it.

He's a man of his word. He said something, he spoke, and he kept it. I wish we had more men like that today. Men who say something and fulfill what they say. How many out there win contracts and papers, and even then, once you sign 15 contracts, they still try to negate and walk away.

How good would it be to have men who keep their word? Isn't that what's happening here? Isn't he a noble act that he kept his word? Isn't he a man of honor for keeping his word? Perhaps.

But did he have to? This is the thing that baffles me. If he didn't know better, well he may have known better, but if he didn't know better and made this vow and then realized the abomination that the human sacrifice would be before the almighty God of the universe, the only true God, then he should not have carried it out. It's time to repent. Repentance is in order to come before the Lord and say, Lord, I have sinned against you, but I'm not going to act in a way that will bring further disdain to your holy name.

Repent. That should be repentance because an atonement can be made for the sin that you have accomplished. The Lord has even made provision for such sins. He's even made provision for such careless and reckless vows. We're told in Leviticus chapter 5, it tells us that if you make a vow, a reckless vow or a rash vow, atonement for sins can be made with the substitute of a sin offering with a goat or a lamb, we're told.

And as far as what is being vowed itself, Leviticus chapter 27 gives us valuations to redeem, which is if you vowed something to the Lord, you can redeem it with valuation. You can go to the priest and there's a valuation. And on a daughter, it's 30 shekels. A man with the stature of Jephthah would have had 30 shekels of silver, no problems. He could have spared her life.

Either Jephthah knew of the provision and chose not to act in pride, Or he didn't know of it, and one would have to ask the question, why was he not told? Because what we're looking at is an abominable act, an act that is so evil, so disgusting before the Lord. You know, in Leviticus chapter 17, you may remember the text. You remember how the Lord regulated sacrifice. And he said all sacrifices, all burnt offerings must be offered in one spot.

And that one spot was before the Lord in the tabernacle of the Lord. Do you remember that? He would have to go to the priests and the priests would say, no, that's not going to happen because the Lord God will not allow for this abomination before his eyes. But it doesn't seem that that's what was taking place. So this speaks poorly to the state of Israel and the state of Jephthah's heart even now.

But I tell you, his daughter was a shining light, wasn't she? It seems recently that in the book of Judges, it's the women who have been the shining lights and not the men. She was loyal. She was willing to pay the price of her father's sin. If you've made an oath before the Lord, as far as her understanding, this is as far as she goes.

You need to obey that. And Daddy, you need to obey that. And I'm willing to put my life down for you to obey that. He gave you the victory. I'm willing to put my life down, just let me mourn with my friends for two months in the mountains because I'll never enjoy the privilege of being a wife or having any children, the greatest privilege for a woman in these days.

On all counts her father, Jephthah, failed his daughter. He even failed the whole people of Israel. Did you see that? Because the text goes on and then we're told that it's no longer the enemy that is across the border that is the problem. The Ammonites have now been subdued.

The imminent threat is now subdued. The enemy is now within their borders. The people of Ephraim, the brothers and the sisters of the people of Gilead. Ephraim was a preeminent tribe. You know that in Israel at this point in time.

That's where Shiloh was. That's where the tabernacle of the Lord had resided and would be there and remain there for several hundred years, probably 300 years, the time of the judges. And so now what we see is we see inter-tribal warfare taking place. The Ephraimites come and they're in fury, they're angered at Jephthah for engaging in a war and not bringing them along, not having them to come along and engage in that common enemy, the enemy of the Ammonites. And we saw this previously back in chapter 8 or 9, I can't remember exactly.

You remember with Gideon, something similar happened. The Ephraimites came to Gideon and said, how dare you? And Gideon quickly diffused the situation very cleverly by blowing wind under their sail and saying, well my, compared to you, great Ephraimites. And subdued the situation with a little bit of word flattery, but now here we have Jephthah, who's not quite as kind as Gideon. He says to them, there's some suggestion in the text that says that the Ephraimites were actually informed of the need for them to engage in battle with Jephthah and his men.

He says, but you didn't come, basically. So they rejected that. We don't know whether he's making that up because the narrative didn't tell us that, or whether the narrative leaves that detail out. So we'll withdraw and we can't make judgment on that. But either way, when Jephthah states to his brothers, the Ephraimites, when he tells them, The Lord gave victory over the enemy.

When he opens his mouth, no matter how angry they are, when he realizes and recognizes that it's Yahweh who gave us victory. It's not me. Yahweh sent us out. Yahweh's hand was upon us. We should not have won.

We did because of his power. Then the Ephraimites should, in that moment, unite with the people of Gilead and Jephthah and worship the Lord God and say, praise be to God that he has overcome one of our enemies. Discussion over. But that's not what happens. Things go from bad to worse.

And before you know it, 42,000 Ephraimites. 42,000 Ephraimites. We read a lot of numbers in the book of Judges. Now let that sink in. 42,000 of their own brothers slaughtered on this day.

Where's the grace? Where's the forgiveness? Where's the mercy? Where's the love in their heart? As the people of God, as the people of Yahweh, they were meant to be an example to the nations.

The survivors of the Ammonites. And they were survivors because they'll poke their ugly heads again, once again, in the days of Samuel. And they'll do something similar. Except then they'll threaten the people of Israel to gouge their eyes out in totality. Where is the light?

You're the people of Israel. You're named by the name of Yahweh as a light to the nations. Who wants to be like you? Who wants to be like a family who's always at fight with one another? Who wants to look into these people and see what's going on?

42,000 killed because they could not get along. How attractive is that to the world? How attractive is God's people to the world? Brothers and sisters, this should be home to us. How attractive are we to the world?

Not in so far as what the world is looking for, but are we a people who love one another that Jesus said, that will know that you are my disciples by your love one for another. Can you show me love when two people, brothers, tribes in the same country come together and the result is 42,000 slaughtered men? You've got to feel sorry for the Ephraimites because they couldn't pronounce words properly. Say Shibboleth, Sibboleth. You're dying.

There are the forts of the Jordan and one after another who, all they wanted to do is come back over from the eastern side of Jordan back to the western side of Jordan to be with their family and they were slaughtered upon the Jordan River. At this point I don't blame you if you have many questions in your minds. One of those may be How can a man empowered by the Spirit of God, how can a man whose name is in Hebrews 11 do such atrocities? And that's actually a very valid question. And it's a question that should be asked.

But brothers and sisters, I've learned over the time, over the years, that when my soul begins to want to ask questions like that, although valid and should be asked and should be answered, that before I answer I need to go and look into the mirror. Because all too often we see characters like Jephthah and we ask the question and we point our finger at him and say, how dare you, I'm not like that, I wouldn't have done what you did. And this is the thing, Jephthah had the spirit of God come upon him. But beloved brothers and sisters, that's That's not even comparable to the experience of the New Testament believer who has the Spirit of God indwelling upon him. The Spirit of Christ and the power of God indwelling in us.

And yet we are capable, I am still capable, of heinous sins. You know what the Apostle Paul says? The Apostle Paul says in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30, he says, Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. How does the Holy Spirit of God grieve? disobedience through sin.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. You can stand back and say, well maybe he's speaking to the unbelievers. It's the unbelievers who grieve the Holy Spirit. Is it the believers? Let me continue.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. He's speaking to you, brothers. He's speaking to you, sisters. That's us. The questions we're asking about Jethro's life They're valid questions.

But I would hope that the story of Jephthah would bring a holy fear and a spirit of humility that we would recognize how despicable we are in our own strength. And rather than poke our heads out in pride, that we bend it down in humility and recognize without him, we are no different. We can do nothing. There's so many applications that I can give in this text, but let me bring it to a close. I want to bring you close with the contents that happened at the end of chapter 10.

The Ammonite forces were all encamped within the borders of Israel, ready to take it to the people of Gilead. And the people of Gilead were there in threat and you remember they were looking for a saviour. They were looking for a man to rescue. I brought that point up last week. A man to rescue them from the hands of the enemies.

And they wanted a man to rescue them, to lead them in the army, to be their general and also one to lead them and rule over them and Jephthah's their man. And Jephthah does. He does rescue them. He does rescue them by the power of God from the hand of the Ammonites. But after that point you'll be very hard-pressed to say a single positive thing about the man.

But that's the human condition. Isn't that what we've seen throughout the book of Judges thus far? Can we put any of these men on a pedestal? But perhaps you might say that the best of the judges is yet to come. Well, I've told you, it is a cycle.

It's a, what do they call that? A spiral, that's what I'm looking for. It's a spiral and it's getting deeper and darker, deeper and darker. But just in case someone thinks that maybe the better judges are yet to come. We're given three judges in quick succession here that we know nothing about except a few details that have been given to us in this text.

The first is Ibzan, Ibzan, and then Elon, and then Abdon. They come and go just like that. And then we get Samson. The best is yet to come. Samson.

I'd ask you to revise that statement if you're thinking that way. Beloved, judges were empowered by the power of God. Let's not deny that. For the task that God had given them, the task that God had given them to go into battle more often than not, to save and rescue the people of Israel themselves. But these judges are humans.

They're mere men. They're fallible men. They didn't bring about the utopia and the bliss and the paradise that these people were hoping for and longing for. The rest that the soul longs for. The peace that the soul longs for.

Who wants to live in a place where every day they're looking over their shoulders in fear? We want someone to take care of our enemies once and for all. The judge's experience failed these people. The Lord empowered them for a time, the judges died, and the people returned back to the sin of the past. And even before the judges died, as we've seen throughout the judges here, is even in their own lifetime, they themselves are not even living in the life of faith that the Lord would require of individuals.

As examples to faithfulness to Yahweh. Maybe that's because the people of Israel need something different than a judge. Maybe it's because you might be thinking, because of the last words in the book of Judges, you know those words that bring the book to a close, those words that read like this, in those days there was no king in Israel, everyone did what is right in his own eyes. You remember those words? We'll get to them, and they're scary words.

But maybe it's not a judge that they require, maybe it's a king. They get Saul, but Saul do it. Saul was a bit of a flop of a king. They get David. David is a king that is after God's own heart.

But then he turns out to be an adulterer. and a murderer. And because of his own sinful actions 70,000 Israelite men are judged by God and killed because of the time of the census. We'll get to that. Maybe Solomon, the man who's bestowed all wisdom, the one who is among all mere men who have ever walked the planet, he is the one who had the greatest wisdom.

Solomon, what happened to Solomon? Rather than bringing unity after his kingdom, what happens as a result of his sin? The kingdom splits in two. Northern kingdom, Southern kingdom. What about the kings of the North?

Not a single one was righteous, the Bible says. What about the kings of the South? Can you ever put on a ported pedestal any of the kings of the South? No, you cannot, beloved. You cannot.

The fact of the matter is, as we read through the book of Judges, as we examine their lives, we're thankful to the Lord to preserve these people. We're thankful to the Lord for the power of God that brought about the deliverance and the rescue of his people who are so unworthy. But he also should bring to our hearts that we need more than what is in this book. We need more than what me-men can offer. We need more than those who are simply just sent by the Lord, me-men sent by the Lord, empowered for a period, and then they die.

We need someone who is a perpetual King. We need someone who's a perpetual Savior. We need the only Savior. When we read through the book of Judges, if you're in Christ, I don't know about you, but if you're in Christ, your heart should be warming to Christ. Your heart should be overwhelmed with love for Him because of what He has done.

Look at the people of old who they were looking to. Who is the man who would rescue us? The God-man. The one who sent from heaven, the eternality, the one who is the son of God, who has no beginning, no end. He came into this world and took upon himself a human nature, a body like yours and a soul like yours.

Yet he, in his essence, is eternal. The one whose life is found in himself. Perfect obedience. Perfect obedience. When listed in the book of Hebrews, he's not listed as one of those who have faith, but the author and the perfecter of our faith.

The one who's from the beginning and to the end. The one who these judges could not survive without. Without him. Without his life. Without his mercy.

Without his grace. We need Jesus. We need Christ.